The Fashion Jacket

The FactsFabric | I have no idea, Trish will know! what’s this stuff called Trish?Pattern | A technicoloured coat.Year | The year of ugly?Notions | One red buttonTime to complete | A couple of episodes of The Cosby Show, I figured if I could channel a Bill Cosby sweater I’d be on the right track. Right?First worn | Boiling my bits off for these photos.Wear again? Yes I love it.Total price | $4.99 thrifted
This coat has been hanging from my wardrobe door for months, when I spied it in the op-shop I certainly did have a refashion in mind because there was really no way I would wear it before it’s reincarnation. A while ago I purchased a book called Junky Stylin by Annika Sanders & Kerry Seager. The book is full of upcycling, refashioning ideas; I really do like the idea of reviving an old garment and giving it a new life. Not everything in the book is to my liking but there are some really fantastic ideas that I’m sure some of you would appreciate. I tried two separate items from this book for this challenge and chose to put this one up which I love, the other, could easily make a feature spot on Regretsey ’where DIY meets WTF’ however I have happily uploaded two 1 & 2 photos onto my Flickr for you to have a laugh at. Keep in mind you are laughing at me and my interpretation of one of the projects in this book that just didn’t cut the mustard and not the wonderful creators of this great book.

I was going to place the illustration of the instructions from this book here so you can see how I refashioned this coat but felt it a little unfair to the books creators so it’s best that I write about the process: Firstly, I had turned the coat upside down, removed the sleeves at the seams including the lining, clipped off the corner edge of each shoulder seam, turned the sleeves upside down, and sewed them back on the wrong way.

So yes! the collar is now at my waist, the front bodice is then crossed over one another where a large button and matching buttonhole has been fixed to keep it sitting pretty. The back bottom half of the coat is now the collar, so to control some of that bulk I folded it down into three pleats and sewed into place. I then cut the belt in half and sewed this along the two draped edges at the front, this part was interesting, it took a bit of fiddling to get things to sit right and it turns out I can wear this coat, jacket, bolero even, three different ways which is rather versatile I think. I love how the jacket sits, I think it has that whole japanese designer Yoji Yamamoto or Comme des Garcons thing going on which I’m a huge fan of. I love to see a confused onlookers face, or if I see someone wearing something structurally different I just want to mow them down rip their clothes off and suss out how it was constructed. I’ll often take a very expensive structurally awesome item into a change room just to study how it was constructed. I’ve even taken photos, why not? We are the gifted ones that can sew right?

It is so damn hot hear at the moment so it will be sometime before I can wear this, however I’ll definitely be on the look out for other thrifted coats that I can name after a David Bowie song and turn upside down for the winter. Happy happy sewing.

Chanelling a Cosby sweater…you’re a hoot! This is masterful. First glance made me think of the Fall Fashion Week stuff I’ve been seeing on the runway…how awesome that you’re right on trend for the upcoming season with TWO Kazz-made jackets! That book you mentioned just landed in my Amazon shopping cart, by the way. My Kazz-inspired garment dreams are bulging at the seams ;-)

Always can expect the unexpected and fascinating creations and photo layout from you, and here’s another great one this week with the refashion of the coat! I’m going right over to check out your other pics on flickr.

Once again, you have made a brilliant contribution. When does your fashion line come out Kazz? This is just stunning, and suits you perfectly. I hate to admit it, but I kind of like your “super high waisted” pants. They really aren’t nearly as awful as I think you think they are (although the pockets on your shoulders are a little bizarre, I’ll give you that). Always look forward to your projects, you never disappoint!

Really cool! Turning coats upside down was really trendy with NZ designers and the sewing community 7 years ago or so, and they did some fantastic stuff with it, which really reminds me of your jacket. I like the snazzy print too.

I spy some Barbara Kruger, no?! Which makes me love this even more!!! Insanely awesome topsy-turvy coat. And complete lolz on the flickr photos… so wrong they’re right! A possible pants tent right on the boobage is just kinda weird. I’ve never heard of that book, and now am on a mission to find it!

About the Sew Weekly

The Sew Weekly began as Mena Trott's attempt to document the process of sewing all of her own clothes in 2010. In 2011, four other contributors (Debi Fry, Adey Lim, Veronica Darling & Sarah Gabbart) joined her and for 52 weeks, they sewed based on a particular weekly theme. In 2012, The Sew Weekly became a much larger group blog with over 130 contributors sewing along each week.